1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and, more particularly, to a recording apparatus capable of recording moving and still images.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital VTR is hitherto known as an apparatus for recording and reproducing video data and sound data as digital data to and from a magnetic tape. In such a digital VTR, when image data for one picture of reproduced moving image data is stored in a memory and this image data for one picture is repeatedly read, the image data can be output as a still image. At this time, image data for one picture might not be satisfactorily reproduced due to errors and drop out in the reproduced data.
Accordingly, in such a VTR, in order to obtain a more satisfactory still image, a method has been considered in which image data is recorded as a still image during recording by repeatedly recording image data for the same picture, stored in memory, on a tape for a plurality of pictures.
On the other hand, concerning a method for performing recording by compressing the amount of information in the image data to be recorded, a method has also been considered in which the amount of information in the image data per unit time is reduced by increasing the compression ratio, making it possible to record for a long period of time though the image quality is deteriorated to a certain degree.
As described above, in the digital VTR, the functions of still image recording and reproduction and recording for a long time period are considered. However, a specific proposal which effectively relates these functions has not yet been made.